Glumpuddle wrote:They muff the first one, which forces them to seek help from the owls and Puddleglum. The Lady of the Green Kirtle distracts them from following the signs by planting thoughts of hot baths and meals. "Bother the signs!" Jill says. They become trapped at Harfang because they don't recognize the third sign as they're climbing over it. In a dream: The Lion told her to repeat the signs, and she found that she had forgotten them all. At that, a great horror came over her. They realize that in order to get back on track and follow the signs again, they must escape Harfang and search underground.

Quite so. Jill has indeed been given the signs and yes they are very important. But what if Eustace had been less snarky at the beginning, had listened to Jill immediately to entertain the possibility that there was indeed an old friend whom he ought to remember pronto? What would have happened then if he had remembered that very old friend? Caspian would have probably sent a well-equipped army with Eustace and Jill. Not only would the story be different, but they might not have done any better and the story of their adventures would have been ruined. And then I would have agreed with your arguments that the SC we know and love, filmed with such a storyline, wouldn't be worth watching. Because, even if they don't realise it, why they need to see Caspian at all, as directed in the first sign, is to help him recover his son, Rilian, something even a grumpy Eustace would be happy to do. They need to stop Caspian going anywhere, and they need to cheer him up no doubt. It doesn't change the signs at all, nor does it alter the reason why they have to learn those signs.

But not missing Caspian alters the story we have, quite considerably. And I agree we need the film to stick to the story we have, which is still about the importance of the signs but also includes all the stuff-ups and how they learned to persevere with their orders, anyway.

Yes, they were expected to follow the signs and expected to persevere with following the signs, despite their self-inflicted mistakes, which they did. Think of having to remember the directions to any place you can think of? You have to recognise someone who will give you good help but you miss them by seconds, when they depart for elsewhere. Then someone called Glimfeather behaves like an idealistic Girl guide, takes you to the powers that be, then to their brownie pack meeting, and then escorts you to someone they know who might be amenable to helping you, plus giving you exactly the background information you need, to explain what the situation is, which specifies that you go north. You aren't forced to take that help, anymore than Glimfeather feels obliged to go north with you. But mere gratitude, and sheer common sense makes it unlikely you will refuse what good help you are given. And without that help from "someone" called..um.. Puddleglum? Oops, Glumpuddle, you will be up the creek without a paddle, or the Shribble, without a ford. As we say.

Jill, Eustace & Puddleglum went north as directed, past rock-throwing giants, who, when one of them saw them, merely laughed. Would that giant have been so amused if there was an army accompanying Jill and Eustace? But then, after crossing rough terrain, Jill and friends find a bridge where they meet LOTGK. And a knight in black armour. They are already forgetting those signs, and in particular why they have to follow the signs, otherwise Jill and Eustace might have remembered their discussion with the owls who agreed with Jill, when she said she thought the lady Drinian saw might be the same as the snake. Especially as both that lady and the one they see at the Bridge seem to be wearing green. But, hey, green might be the fashion statement in those northern parts.

But, then again, if Jill had not let herself be distracted by even meeting these passers-by in their fancy rigouts, lovely horses, and LOTGK's dulcet tones, forgetting that Drinian's evil lady also was wearing green, would there also have been a different story to the one we have? And so it goes. You can go on a trip all you like, following any number of signs, remembering them meticulously. But if you still stray, looking for accommodation or get weather bound you might still forget why you are going on that trip. You might give up, be waylaid, or remain in prison. As they nearly were at several points. Fortunately, Jill had that dream, they were able to see from Harfang's window the information in the Ruined City they might not have noticed the night before, and, having taken that advice they also remembered the fourth sign which was all about Rilian.

And reaching that last hurdle, dutifully following the signs, was just as arduous, dangerous, dramatic, or more so, as anything that went beforehand. Especially given the predicament Rilian was in and that LOTGK, was just the sort of bullying "control freak" who left very little to chance, to realise her plans to take over Narnia, using Rilian as her puppet. I really hate to disagree with you, Glumpuddle, but Hannah Minghella, as the "mere" President of a firm marketing films, might not be so far off when she outlined what she knew of SC in one sentence which describes Jill as a bullied girl who learns to stand up for herself. Thanks to Aslan, Puddleglum, Eustace and her perseverance in her mission to free Rilian from LOTGK's prison-like domain in "Underland".

Hi TimmyofOz, I really did get what you were saying about the Wizard of Oz, which I first saw in a home in Spring of 1952, before I started school in January 1953. But the Wizard of Oz resonated for many more reasons over time whether or not it was a considered a cult movie. Mainly, it was just so applicable to a land Down Under where the inhabitants are in the habit of shortening everything under the sun, from biscuits to the name of their land. Which is why we call it Oz, and ourselves Aussies. And why at least one Prime Minister was called the Lizard of Oz, and why a state premier was inevitably called "the Wicked Witch of the West". Sydney is of course Emerald City, and its main link to the hinterland, started after 1813 to much hoopla, has at one time or other been called the Yellow Brick Road, until the current makeover was finished after its beginnings sometime before 2013.